Whoopi Goldberg Mistakenly Ate This Snack for Pets After Meeting the Pope

In a shift from the previous few weeks of serious political discourse, Whoopi Goldberg brought some lightheartedness to The View in a recent episode. After a quick trip to the Vatican to see the Pope last week, Goldberg returned to the United States and had her co-hosts in fits of laughter with a tale about her erratic conduct caused by jet lag. As reported by US Weekly, she began her story by saying, "I got home. Perhaps I was a little more jet-lagged than I realized. I was not high. I had nothing to drink."

"It is 2 in the morning, and there are these wonderful pretzels called Dot’s Pretzels, which I love. So sometimes, you know, when you get a bag of Dot’s Pretzels, they’re broken in half." Upon closer inspection, Goldberg saw an additional bag placed right next to the pretzel packet, which she had not anticipated. A deep, loud 'ooooooh' escaped the crowd, who had begun to guess what was coming next, when Goldberg said that her daughter had stashed a package of cat snacks 'right next to' the pretzels. Goldberg continued, "So I reach over and I pour some Dot’s in my hand and I put ‘em in my mouth. I’m chewing. [These may be] a little stale!" 

As Goldberg narrated the story, co-host Sunny Hostin wanted to know whether she felt it was a new taste. Goldberg replied, "No, no. I just poured some more in because maybe I thought, you know, bed mouth. You know, because sometimes you wake up and you got something in your mouth and you’re like, ‘Who is this?’ So I pour some more. ‘Why do these taste so bad?’ My eye finally kind of opened a little bit, and in my hand was the Crabby flavor Temptations!" Goldberg managed to find the humor in her story to make a joke, even though she was frightened that she ate cat food.

This came at the heels of an event, as reported by The New York Times, during which Goldberg and more than a hundred other comedians spent the weekend in the Vatican meeting with Pope Francis in an attempt to forge a bond between the Catholic Church and comedy. According to the Pope, comedians 'denounce abuses of power' and draw attention to 'inappropriate behavior,' all while encouraging audiences to 'think critically by making them laugh and smile.' American performers included stand-up comics Tig Notaro and Chris Rock, late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The percentage of Italian performers exceeded two-thirds. 

A long tradition of cultural engagement dates back decades when popes would host meetings for painters, poets, and other creative people. At a meeting with several artists from across the world held last year in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis challenged them to be agents of change in social justice and other important areas. "The world needs artists," he told those gathered at the Vatican pavilion during the Venice Biennale in April.